Bodacious!

by Dieter

Waiting to
order my Red Beans and Rice with Sausage, I couldn’t avoid noticing the woman at
the front of the line. Wearing a brown uniform of one of the local utility
companies, she looked neither well-dressed nor affluent. It didn’t matter to
me. I couldn’t remove my gaze from her attractive face which was enhanced
further by a gorgeous set of dreadlocks atop her head. Of course, what really
caught my attention was her glasses. The simple fact that I could not identify
their color was remarkable. The wide temple pieces on the sides were decorated
by nothing more than patterns. There were lines, shapes, and designs, but the
multitude of colors were insignificant and difficult to discern.

I chose a
seat to allow continued analysis of the woman and her group. Her friends were
dressed more normally in casual attire. The average man, whatever the
definition of that may be, would likely be more attracted to the friends. One
thing I’m seldom described as is average, though. And in this case I ‘locked
on’ to what interested me most. The lenses in front of her dark brown eyes were
in the ordinary range of a moderate minus script. I wasn’t close enough to
narrow it further although it didn’t make a difference. The frames were the
show stoppers. As she turned towards me, I saw that the front part that held
the lenses was quite unique being colored in dark, slightly transparent shades
of brown and purple. Though not the most attractive woman in the eatery, she
was the only one wearing glasses and she had managed to make the most of
it. Her choice in eyewear was nothing short of bold. She was bodacious.

The ring on
the finger of her left hand spoke volumes, though. It warned me to keep my
distance and move on. In fact it screamed at me to not even get caught looking
too much. Pity, I rather enjoyed the view. The return walk to my office was
long and gave me time for observation and consideration. Within a few blocks,
my path was crossed by a young woman who appeared to be the age of a coed.
Wearing shorts, a sleeveless cotton shirt, and rubber-soled flip-flops, she
carried a cumbersome backpack. Short and thin with exceptional muscle tone, her
tanned skin and sun-bleached dark hair gave her the look of an avid runner. She
looked to be the type that would prefer the use of contacts if she needed
corrective lenses. But on her face? Very dark, tortoise-colored wide-temples
framing a very strong minus script. She wore them comfortably as she glided
towards me.

“Excuse me,”
she interrupted, “do you know which direction I need to turn to get to the
Chatham Tap?”

“To your
left,” I replied, “I’m heading that way if you care to walk with me.”

“That would
be so nice. I’m meeting my boyfriend. He’s the new bartender. He started
working there today.”

As we made
the three-block walk to the pub I kept her engaged in conversation, if for no
other reason than to keep her turning toward me to speak thus allowing numerous
opportunities to study her distinctively light brown eyes. They were
wonderfully minimized behind the flat-fronted lenses that contained loads of
cut-in. Her bodacious wide-temple frames were the perfect accent to a
face and body that was colored so wonderfully. As much as possible, I tried to
appreciate those moments while we walked as friends. But she had made it
perfectly clear from the start that she had no interest in going further than
that. Pity, that view could have kept me entertained for days. But who was I
kidding. She was much too young for me. Hell, I have pairs of socks older than
her!

When I
rounded the next corner, I found myself in the shadows of the taller buildings
in the heart of downtown. I nearly bumped head-on into a woman in her fifties
wearing a navy suit with platform pumps. She was absorbed in a formidable
conversation between two male ‘suits’ of a much younger age.

“I wonder if
you could clear something up for us?” she intruded directing her speech towards
me.

With a very
mild minus script, she was wearing black ‘conservative-styled’ wide-temples. I
say that phrase fully questioning if that very description is an oxymoron. Is
there really such a thing as conservative wide-temples? You can decide. To me,
the frames she wore begged to be noticed. But, the prescription looked so
slight that I wondered if she had chosen to use glasses as part of her ‘career
uniform’ just to be taken seriously by co-workers.

“Sure,” I
responded expecting to be quizzed concerning matters of finance, politics, or
something important like the weather.

“Can you
tell us what year the Colts moved here? I say it was before Indianapolis hosted
the Pan Am Games. They say it was the same year,” she said pointing a
thumb towards each colleague.

Wow, it was
like being on the ‘Cash Cab’ and I was the person who had been chosen for a
‘Street Shout-Out’! Except, I don’t think Ben Bailey has ever worked his cab
through the streets of Indianapolis. But I must say, at least their question
was concerning matters of great importance.

“It was
1984;” I responded assuredly, “the Colts moved here in March and played their
first games in the Hoosier Dome later that fall. The Pan Am games were held in
1987.”

“See! I
told you!” the lady yelled while thumping both men on the back of their heads.
“Thank you,” she said directing her attention again to me, “you’ve been
helpful.”

She appeared
to be a woman used to being correct and, most often, getting her way. Honestly,
she was a bit elderly for my tastes. But as they continued walking, I could
tell the argument had not been completely resolved.

“Well I’m
going to look it up on the internet when we get back to the office,” one of the
male colleagues whined obviously disagreeing with my answer.

“Go ahead,
you’re wrong,” the woman chided.

“Gourd
head?!,” the other man mocked as their voices trailed out of ear shot.

I gave a
final thought to the view of her bright blue eyes behind the glossy thin lenses
in her wide-temple glasses. There is no doubt, that view had been bodacious.

Nearing my
destination, I wasn’t especially excited about returning to my desk. With
little to work on, I wasn’t primed to start a new project on a Friday afternoon
before a ‘Monday-holiday’ weekend. Instead, I took a seat in a shady spot along
the fountain ledge around Monument Circle. My building was directly across the
street and from that vantage point I would be able to spot anyone frantically
looking for me in an emergency. Nearby, a thirtyish woman wearing a bright top,
a colorfully-patterned long skirt, and high-healed sandals, was viewing the
monument. Her red hair was curly, wild, and free, with bright red-orange nail
polish professionally painted on her fingers and toes. She jangled and clanged
noisily from the numerous bracelets and bangles on her arms and ankle. Resting
on her nose were wide-temples that were two-toned green with circular patterns
grooved into the sides. Containing a plus prescription in the lenses, her green
eyes were enlarged, inviting, and sexy.

The woman
strolled happily with two young girls wearing wide-temples of their own. One’s
was made in a bright blue transparent plastic with various shades of blue
swirls. The other girl’s was a two-tone aquamarine metal frame. All three of
them made wide-temple glasses a main ingredient of their fashion statements.
When the girls curiously asked questions to their ‘mommy’ concerning the
monument and fountain, the woman responded patiently. For at least two reasons,
there was no rationale for me to entertain further involvement for anything
other than an interest in their eyewear. The three ‘ladies’ had chosen glasses
with flair and their decisions were bodacious!

The
discovery I made during my noontime walk was to realize that for several years I
have been observing and living during a fascinating time of optical history.
When wide-temple glasses first crept into fashion, they were bold. They were
very unusual and unlike most anything previous. It was a style that demanded to
be noticed. Wearers inferred a statement that they were proud and accepting of
their flaw. Pay attention to me. You can see I wear glasses. I may not see
perfectly, but does that matter? I’m smart, I’m fashionable, and I’m sexy.
And I’m not hiding from you anymore.

Soon wearers
began to ‘show off’. Colors blazed new trails. Almost anything was
imaginable. Pleasant colors of blue and beige; bright colors of red, white, and
orange; unique colors of purple and pink; strange colors such as shades of green
and yellow; beautifully deep colors of black, brown, burgundy, and dark red.
There were transparent hues, crystal clears, and two-tones.

The choices
in lens shapes progressed. Cat-eyes, ovals, narrow rectangles, and large
squares became available with wide temples. Frame materials grew from simple
plastics to metal, composites, and combinations of everything. Wire-rimmed
wide-temples were created by using two wires forming nothing more than the
shape. That has allowed a version to be worn without the inherent difficulties
with peripheral vision.

But now,
multi-colored frames are the norm. Jewels and glitter have almost become
passé. As I stated previously, the present state of wide temples includes
patterns and designs that defy description. When desired, there is an added
bonus for the wearer. Strong prescriptions are far less obvious in these
frames. Thick lenses can be hidden from the side view by the temple pieces.
There are styles for men but I wouldn’t say they have made the same impact. Few
males step beyond conservative tastes when it comes to eyewear.

But what has
been truly amazing is watching the girls and women that have no fear of
attracting attention because they wear glasses. These ladies represent
an entire cross-section of occupations and personalities. Some are beautiful
while others are less so. They wear suits, scrubs, evening gowns, miniskirts,
lab coats, skinny jeans, shorts, work clothes, and uniforms. They are lawyers,
soldiers, actresses, housewives, mothers, truck drivers, and police officers.
They are divas, geeks, slobs, and the girl next door. Most of all they are
special.

Arguably,
none of this is entirely new. There were sparkly cat-eyes in the fifties.
There were shades of blue, white, and crystal in the sixties. There were
drop-temples in the late seventies. And of course, there were the large frames
of the eighties and nineties. Even the more recent tiny-lensed glasses were
such a break from the large lenses previously, that at the time, they were trend
setting. But there has never been any style that has attracted as many wearers
as wide-temples glasses. They are bodacious!

In my humble
opinion, no style has ever done more to promote the wearing of glasses. I’m not
saying it is the style that everyone loves to view. I’m not saying it is the
style that everyone loves to wear. But I have never seen so many girls and
women making the choice to wear glasses before. Maybe it is nothing more than
coincidence that it is the most popular style during a time when the wearing of
glasses has become trendy. In time we will be able to look back and judge. For
now, the remaining question is simply: I wonder what will happen next?

I was shaken
from my thoughts by a woman who had seated herself beside me during my
daydream. Small and slender, she was wearing a short skirt and long jacket. On
her tiny feet were high-healed pumps with pointed toes. On her face, she wore
transparent purple glasses with gold flecks in the wide temples. I’d seen her
before and had to wonder why she was wearing the purple glasses instead of the
black ones she usually wore. Her hazel eyes, strawberry blond hair, and softly
freckled but tanned skin were complimented perfectly by the bodacious
color and style.

The woman
smiled and said, “My concentration is shot today. With all this ‘500’ commotion
downtown, I just can’t work. How would you like to go home with me, make some
drinks, and have some fun?”

Without
hesitation, I dialed my boss’ office number on my cell phone and waited for the
ring.

“Charles,
this is Daniel. I’m going home early with my wife. Have a great Memorial Day
weekend. I’ll see you Tuesday.”